Adams Apple Eatables

This year we decided to have this popular event on two days – to give people the option depending on which day was most convenient for them. So, we set the dates for Sunday, November 13th from 1-4 and Tuesday, November 15th from 4-7. We had a great turnout for both but believe it or not we had a few more guests on Sunday, when it was raining and cold and nasty weather! You just never know!

So let me tell how we plan for the holiday season. We start by attending the JanuaryMarket in Atlanta (yes, almost a whole year ahead). We get ideas and inspiration and learn what the trends will be for the new Christmas season. We place a few orders for must-have items and schedule the shipments for July. Then we go back to Atlanta for the July market and really get serious about the upcoming holiday season and order all of the merchandise that we will carry and schedule it for immediate shipping. As you can imagine, this is quite challenging to make sure we have what people are looking for and have enough that we don’t run out but not too much that we don’t get stuck with it! 🙂 This year we had to make a very last minute trip in early November to a wholesaler in rural Georgia to pick up a few more items. Sometimes the stuff we order in Atlanta doesn’t come in and we have to scramble! Below are photos from our January trip. You may remember these from the blog posts we did for each day at market!

So after all of the planning, we start with the outdoor decorations and put them up on the weekend that falls after Halloween. We then slowly start putting out the new inventory and setting up the displays. We wait as long as we can to decorate the tree and mantle which is our main display. That’s usually done on the last Sunday before the drop-in when the store is closed. We have a different theme every year! We always leave the front room set up with our fall merchandise through Thanksgiving!

So this year PLAID is big. We did our big tree and mantle in a plaid theme with a few rustic and burlap accents with lots of RED! We also have lots of new ornaments this year too and have restocked many of our popular lines such as Nora Flemingentertaining pieces, Melissa & Dougtoys, Root candles, Moonstruck chocolates and so much more!

We were so glad to have Theresa provide samples on Sunday of her very popular Adams Apple Eatables that we carry here at Winston’s. We were also excited to have Tisa here on Tuesday and provided samples of some of the Robert Rothschild products we carry! All of it was hit and once people tasted the items, they were hooked! We are stocked up, so stop by soon! Great for gifts and parties!

It’s always fun to see people enjoying themselves while they browse, visit and enjoy the food and drinks! Janie made her popular cheese wafers and Columbia College crackers. The hot apple cider sure was a hit when it was so cold on Sunday!

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We are very appreciative of everyone that stopped by and shopped with us, and hope you come back soon! If you weren’t able to make it we hope you will have a chance to visit us soon as well! Thank you to Laura with Lola Dee Photographyfor photographing our events! It sure is nice to have someone else take the photos, especially a professional!! Much better photos and a lot more photos!! 🙂 Merry Christmas from the Winston’s Crew!

On Thursday, August 25th we hosted our 4th Annual Tailgate Party & Fall Preview! It wouldn’t be a true tailgate party in the south if it wasn’t H.O.T. but, thankfully it did not rain and we had a super turnout! Thank you to Paige Phillips Photographyfor the wonderful photos to remember this fun night!

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Janie metClay Rice when she was at Atlanta Market in July and invited him to do a book signing that night and he agreed! Then a couple weeks later we got the news that he would also do his famous silhouettes! We were so excited and started spreading the word. Well, it didn’t take long and we filled up every appointment. Then he said if we could have somebody run his credit card machine, we could double book the appointments! What?! That means he was doing a silhouette every 2 minutes! Wow, he was super fast and didn’t put down the scissors for 2 hours straight! A big thank you to our girl Emma for helping Mr. Rice run the credit cards so he could keep cutting! Such a fascinating process and we were thrilled at the response!

You know it wouldn’t be a good party if we didn’t feed you! Theresa Adams brought samples of her Adams Apple Eatables and Nicole Storey of Izzabeee’s brought yummy Gamecock and Clemson Tiger Cupcakes! Janie made her popular Columbia CollegeCrackers and we served a variety of the gourmet products we carry!

Our friend Deborah with Charmingly Southern Vintage Rentals set up a neat tailgate spread with picnic baskets and vintage quilts! Please contact her for any vintage rental needs you may have for an upcoming event!!

This year we partnered with Pink Palmetto Boutique and Designs by April. They were available to do onsite vinyl monogramming and discuss the many options they can provide for personalizing items from Winston’s Gift Shop! They also set up a pop up shop on our front lawn!

We appreciate everyone that came out and hope you enjoyed yourselves! See ya next year!!

It’s hard to believe it has almost been a week since our drop-in! Wow, what a fantastic crowd we had! We were so busy that we didn’t have a chance to speak to everyone or get pictures of more of our guests! We were thrilled with the turnout and appreciate everyone that came!! We hope that you all enjoyed yourselves and will come back a few times during this holiday season!!

In case you weren’t able to attend or maybe you didn’t get to see everything while you were here, here are the photos that we did get of the displays, food and a few of the attendees – Photo Album

We want to give a big thank you to Nicole with Izzabee’s Confectioneries for providing delicious treats for everyone to enjoy!! If you would like to order or contact her, here is her information – Website: http://www.izzabees.com/ Phone: 540.305.9490 Email: nicole@izzabees.com

It was great to have Theresa of Adams Apple Eatables join us and provide samples of her Apple Butter and Apple Pie Jam! We sell both here at Winston’s Gift Shop! They make great hostess gifts and you can pick up a jar or two for yourself!!

A few folks have asked for the recipe for the Columbia College Crackers that Janie made. Here is link to a blog post we did a couple years ago that includes the recipe and a couple others you might like! –A few recipes shared by Janie

We hosted our 3rd annual Tailgate Partyon Thursday, August 27th from 5-7pm. It was a good turnout and we had great weather! Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and we had fun drawing names for door prizes every 20 minutes! We even had a few people take photos with our new instagram cutout. Check out our instagram feed to see them – Winston’s Gift Shop

For those of you that didn’t make it we took a few photos around the shop so you could take a virtual tour! You can hover over each photo to see a caption and click to see a larger version.

Door mat inserts

Garden flags and door decorations

Metal football with initial

Embellish your Story

Metal pumpkin with initial

Game Day scarves and clutches

Carolina and Clemson themed gift boxed ornaments

Game Day gear!

Game Day paper products!

Game day scarves & gloves

Game day supplies!

Waxed pottery

Eat your Peas collection

We were thrilled to have Jessica with Sugar Stripes make us Tailgate themed Cookies! See the photos below. You can follow her business on Instagram – sugarstripessc! She takes local pick up orders via email – sugarstripessc@gmail.com

We were so happy to have Theresa Adams with Adams Apple Eatables provide samples of her brand new Apple Pie Jam and her popular Apple Butter for everyone! We sell both at Winston’s Gift Shop! Stop by and pick up a jar or two!